The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Magnolia figo. The new cultivar will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Stellar Ruby’. ‘Stellar Ruby’ is a new cultivar of Magnolia grown for use as a landscape shrub.
The new cultivar of Magnolia is a selection from a controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Zebulon, N.C. The objectives of the breeding program were to create a new Magnolia cultivar with fragrant purple flowers with good cold hardiness and evergreen foliage.
‘Stellar Ruby’ originated from a cross made in 2004 between an unnamed and unpatented plant of Magnolia figo var. crassipes as the female parent and an unnamed and unpatented plant of Magnolia figo var. skinneriana as the male parent. ‘Stellar Ruby’ was selected as a single unique plant in 2010 from amongst the resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by semi-hardwood stem cuttings by the Inventor in Zebulon, N.C. in late spring of 2014. Asexual propagation by semi-hardwood stem cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.